by Lindsay H. Jones, USA TODAY Sports

by Lindsay H. Jones, USA TODAY Sports

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia â?? After all of the weather-related concerns about mountain venues at the Sochi Games, it wasn't the heat or lack of snow that forced changes to the Olympic schedule.

A dense fog settled over the Rosa Khutor mountain venues Monday morning, making it nearly impossible to see more than just a couple of feet in any direction. Such visibility issues forced officials to move Monday's men's snowboardcross competition to Tuesday morning, and move the men's biathlon 15-kilometer event -- originally scheduled for Sunday evening -- to Tuesday afternoon.

At the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, home to the 2,500-foot long snowboardcross course, the decision to postpone the race by a day seemed inevitable after riders awoke Monday unable to see much of the course, let alone get down it safely.

"You don't send six Formula One cars into a dark tunnel and then see what happens," said Ollie Kraus, a snowboarding spokesman for the International Ski Federation (FIS). "Who would go first in those conditions? It just isn't fair."

Riders attempted one test, during which American Nate Holland said he "couldn't see anything."

"You think what you're gonna do off these features and you can't see anything, you'd have to ride by Braille. I've studied this course and I was confident I'd be able to make it down it, but there's that screwiness factor that no visibility adds," Holland said.

For a sport that features heats of six riders racing down a mountain, flying around turns at nearly 50 mph and hurling themselves over big jumps, the ability to see is crucial. They can race in snow flurries or frigid temperatures or on slushy snow on a warm day like the women had for their race on Sunday, but fog made racing on this day impossible.

It was a jury of FIS officials who at 2 p.m. made the decision to move the race to Tuesday. The jury solicited input from riders and coaches at the top of the course, and Kraus said those four men were told that conditions at the top of the course were significantly worse than at the bottom.

"It would have been so incredibly dangerous to try to pull something off," American Alex Deibold said.

Given how poor the visibility was, riders were more relieved than frustrated once the decision was made. Holland, who finished fourth in Vancouver and is chasing his first Olympic medal, said it wouldn't be right to let poor visibility affect the outcome of the season's biggest race.

At the base of the course, where fans, including riders' families waited, the announcement was met with groans. For Deibold's family, it was both welcome and devastating news.

Deibold's girlfriend, Ashley Berger, his sister, Jillian, and an aunt were each booked on flights out of Sochi, scheduled to take off before the rescheduled races will begin. Berger's eyes welled up as she considered the idea of having flown all the way here from the home she shares with Deibold in Boulder, Colo. â?? after enduring a series of canceled flights on her way here on Friday â?? only to have to leave without seeing him race.

"I'm bummed. I don't want him to run and not be safe, but it's a lot of emotional build up," said Berger, a former snowboarding coach who is an MBA student at the University of Colorado.

The fog also forced Olympic officials to twice postpone biathlon events because of the difficulty in seeing the shooting targets. Snow was also an issue on the biathlon course because the salt that had been applied to the snow was not working to help improve conditions.

"I think it is actually quite ironic that the biggest issue we've had so far is due to winter fog and that has led to the biggest postponement we've had so far," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

There have been other weather issues at these Games, mostly dealing with the warm temperatures and how the spring-like conditions have affected the snowboarding and skiing courses. But weather issues are hardly new to the Winter Games, and they certainly aren't unique to Russia.

The past four North American Games, in Lake Placid in 1980, in Calgary in 1988, in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Vancouver four years ago, events were affected or postponed for reasons from the lack of snow to high winds, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon.

"Compared with conditions in Europe, for example, just before this, we had things cancelled because of lack of snow. That hasn't happened yet; we're not complacent, but winter sport is very, very unpredictable, it is a dynamic field of play," Adams said. "At present the conditions are good and we are continuing and we haven't had any major complaints about the conditions up there."

Tuesday's forecast at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park includes the chance of rain showers in the morning, and high temperatures around 50 degrees.

American snowboarder Faye Gulini waited at the bottom of the snowboardcross course throughout the three-hour delay Monday afternoon, repeatedly gazing up the course. It was hard to believe it was the same terrain she and her teammates had ridden a day earlier, under bluebird skies and in near 50-degree weather.

Gulini, who finished fourth in the women's race and was the top American, emphatically supported the decision to postpone the race by a day out of concern for the male riders. But she empathized with the emotional rollercoaster Holland, Deibold, Nick Baumgartner and Trevor Jacob were forced to endure Monday.

"It's annoying to have it be we're going, we're not going, we're going, we're not going, because you get yourself in that race mode where you're ready to charge, and then when they say you're not going, you let yourself relax, and then all of a sudden it's like you're going again," Gulini said. "At the end of the day, it's good it was canceled. It was not safe for the athletes, and it gets in your head man, just up and down, up and down. Now they can come tomorrow, and just be ready."